13th March, 2016
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Afenifere Renewal Group [ARG] has called on the Lagos State Government to immediately constitute a judicial enquiry into the savagery that engulfed Mile 12 recently.
The group, in a statement released on Sunday by its Publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, said the government could not rely solely on police investigation of the crisis “because ARG’s local inquiries into the incident alleged that the police approach lacked objectivity and was overtly biased.”
“In our view therefore, only a judicial enquiry can produce the kind of recommendations and shift-change that will engender peaceful and sustainable cohabitation in that area of the state.
“ARG is aware of several attempts to placate this gory incident through conciliatory approaches aimed at getting us to ‘move-on’. ARG notes that Nigeria’s history is replete with several of such ‘move-ons’ and that is why such calamities are recurring. A different approach is needed so that we stop planting evil seeds that will germinate into abominable trees in the nearest future.
“ARG therefore calls on the Lagos State Government to constitute a judicial panel, made up of credible citizens to investigate the immediate and remote causes of this mayhem,” it said.
The group also noted that Lagos State’s regulatory policy on Okada (commercial motorcycles) as a means of commercial transportation was not implementable and therefore called for a total ban of motorcycle as a means of transportation in the state.
“Apart from the safety and security threats that okada pose to our society, it is also luring youths away from their vocations to the effect that largely all artisanal works in the Southwest are now being carried out by economic migrants from neighbouring countries,” it added.